RomanticRobert Schumann
Robert Schumann was born in Germany.
Robert Schumann’s life
The big moments of this life, and what was happening in the world at the same time.
A life at a glance
- 1810👶 Birth
Born in Zwickau on 8 June, son of a bookseller-publisher
- 1816🌍 Meanwhile
Maelzel patents the metronome (1815–16)
- 1822🌍 Meanwhile
Champollion deciphers hieroglyphs
- 1828📚 Trainingage 18
Studies law in Leipzig, then Heidelberg
- 1832❤️ Private lifeage 22
A hand injury ends his dream of being a pianist
- 1834🎩 Careerage 24
Founds the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik, a critical journal
- 1835🎼 Workage 25
Carnaval Op. 9
- 1838🎼 Workage 28
Scenes from Childhood and Kreisleriana
- 1839🌍 Meanwhile
Photography is invented (daguerreotype)
- 1840🌍 Meanwhile
Adolphe Sax invents the saxophone (c. 1840)
- 1841🎼 Workage 31
Symphony No. 1 ‘Spring’
- 1850🎩 Careerage 40
Music director in Düsseldorf; ‘Rhenish’ Symphony
- 1856🕯️ Deathage 46
Dies at Endenich on 29 July
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Excerpts of up to 90 seconds, freely licensed recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
Once upon a time…
Robert Schumann was born in Germany. His dad was a bookseller, and Robert loved books as much as music. He wanted to become a great pianist, but he hurt his hand… So he decided to compose.
He fell in love with Clara, a brilliant pianist. Clara’s dad refused to let them marry: they had to go to court to win the right to wed! In the year of their marriage Robert wrote almost a hundred and forty love songs.
He also composed for children: Scenes from Childhood and the Album for the Young, with little pieces like “The Happy Farmer”.
He wrote articles about music under two made-up names, Florestan and Eusebius, as if he had two personalities.
Robert Schumann’s instruments
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